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BDN Monday Musings

All in the Family - The Duke coaches were out and about this past week and BDN was right there with them. Photo courtesy of JDC of IC

It happens every year for me. I get busy covering Duke Athletics and around this time in July, I wonder to myself, "where did spring and summer go?" As many of you are aware, Blue Devil Nation is hands down the most active Duke site on the AAU recruiting trail and the proof is in the content. Today, we unveil an in-depth interview with Mitch McGary and this follows up dual interviews with a new Duke offer Matt Jones, dual interviews with Tony Parker, Julius Randle, Nerlens Noel and ... you get the picture. Want to know the latest on Perry Jones? See our most in depth interview.

BDN covers every major event, it is our calling card and something only this site can lay claim to. Andrew Slater has been front and center for the LeBron James Skills Academy and the Adidas Invitational, while I covered the Peach Jam from end to end. I will have more on the strengths of Blue Devil Nation Premium a bit later and we will be running a brief special as an introductory offer to what we feel is clearly the best, hands on and most consistent coverage of the recruiting trail in basketball and football.

The Blue Devils Men's Basketball team has a few practices under their belt in preparation for their upcoming trip to China and Dubai. Early reports indicate that the freshman class is a most talented group. Some of you may have seen a few in action at the NC Pro Am and we will cover the event this week to bring you updates as they happen via our popular twitter site. We were the first Duke site to cover this event on a regular basis and have done so in a manner where they set us up on the baseline with our own section. If you can make it over, the atmosphere is electric and fun but don't expect a lot of defense for it is an All Star like playing atmosphere.

This weekend, the ACC media gather in Pinehurst, North Carolina where they will vote for All ACC teams and the pre-season projected standings. I already have my picks in order and look forward to football season, which is fast approaching. The Blue Devils kick off the season in a scant 48 days. Duke Football recruiting has gone very well and our own Patrick Cacchio will unveil the third pre-season look at our schedule with Boston College a bit later this week. BDN has become the place to be for football coverage.

Every year you can depend on two things. One is that there will be an outrageous rumor that Coach K will go to some professional team. The other is there will be talk of his replacement as seen in this article. Addressing the pro issue is not even worth my time for Krzyzewski has made it clear that he is happy at Duke, yet every single little blurb from not-so-dependable Bleacher Report or some similar sites falls in his lap. He now smiles it off, yet some local media follow up on shoddy reporting despite it's lack of a single tangible fact. As for his replacement, Coach K has never looked healthier or happier than he has in the last few years and that is coming from somebody that has been around in one form or the other for many, many years. My suggestion to worry wart types is to embrace and enjoy the here and now and let the future take its natural course. Krzzyewski most recently was passing on some of his wisdom in this article.

Social media is a big thing these days. BDN was the first site to conduct press row tweets from Cameron Indoor Stadium and the national championship game against Butler. GoDuke has now entered the arena and they will almost certainly do a good job in that they in a sense have the market cornered. The days of the Sports Information Department being mainly a support group for media are seemingly a thing of the past as they venture into uncharted territory. SID's have become a business, a stark departure from years past and they have a distinct advantage in that they can pick and choose what to keep as their own. In all honesty, I have mixed feelings on this but that is a story for another day. In the meantime, who in their right mind wouldn't follow good information and that includes me. Here is a list of GoDuke.com's twitter sites -